Console Living Room lets you play hundreds of old-school games in your browser

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Fans of vintage video games rejoice: the geeky crew of Archive.org has powered up the Console Living Room. It’s a massive online collection of games for systems like the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision that you can play right in your browser!

Console Living Room is an extension of Archive.org’s Historical Software Collection, and so far it includes the Atari 7800, Magnavox Odyssey, and Astrocade in addition to the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision.

The games are brought to life by JSMESS, a pure JavaScript version of MESS, the Multi Emulator Super System. More than 500 titles are available for the Atari 2600 alone, including classics like Tempest, Pitfall, and Zaxxon. [Read on: Portable Gaming: A Brief History]

And yes, the E.T. game that Atari buried in a New Mexico landfill is playable too. For as long as you can stand it, that is. Move up to the much newer Atari 7800 and you’ll be able to play much more advanced games with better graphics like Ikari Warriors and Double Dragon.

Archive.org’s official blog post notes that the library will expand rapidly in the very near future, so don’t rage quit if you don’t see your favorite titles just yet. Also… don’t expect to hear any sound.

Support for game audio hasn’t been implemented yet, but JSMESS is still considered beta software. It’s constantly being tweaked and improved, and soon you’ll get the full classic living room gaming experience you remember right inside your browser.

MESS supports loads of additional systems, like the Intellivision and VirtualBoy. There’s a good chance Archive.org will expand the Console Living Room’s offerings to include them at some point, too!